An Bord Pleanála is to hear an appeal in respect of a planning application for a healthcare facility near Golden. The facility is located at Rathellen House, Raheen, Golden.
Tipperary County Council refused permission for a change of use from a Bed and Breakfast to a Residential Care Facility for 8 persons with intellectual disabilities for two stated reasons.
Firstly, the Tipperary County Development Plan 2022 supports the provision of both public and private healthcare facilities in settlements on suitably zoned lands.
The application site is in a rural setting and is on lands designated as ‘Open Countryside’.
If permitted, the development would provide for a healthcare facility on unzoned and unserviced lands at a location which is removed from the services and amenities offered by settlement centres.
The development is, therefore, considered to be “contrary to the Tipperary County Development Plan 2022 and would not be in accordance with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area and would, if permitted, set an undesirable precedent for other similar developments.”
The second reason for the refusal of planning permission is that the County Development Plan aims to protect the viability of the ‘Strategic Transport Investment’ priorities in the road network, by “reserving corridors for the proposed routes free from inappropriate development”.
The site of the proposed development is located within the study area for the proposed N-24 Cahir to Limerick Junction Project and is in close proximity to the current preferred route, which the Mid-West National Road Design Office has confirmed is not yet certain and is subject to change.
The proposed development could therefore prejudice the delivery of this road scheme according to the Planning office of Tipperary County council.
The application is in the name of Nua Healthcare and An Bord Pleanála hopes to deliver a decision by March 1st 2024.
